Rising incomes allowed farmers to buy more land and the extra seed, crop chemicals and equipment needed.

Profitable Industries

"Grain farming has been one of few profitable industries for the past three years, and there will be a tendency for farmers around the world to maximize acreage," said Don Roose, the president of U.S. Commodities Inc. in West Des Moines, Iowa, who has been advising farmers and grain elevators since 1979. "We have the potential to grow record world crops this year that can swamp demand."

Deere & Co., the world's largest farm-equipment maker, will report record net income of $3.14 billion this year, up from $2.8 billion a year earlier, the mean of eight analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg shows. Shares of the Moline, Illinois- based company rose 14 percent this year. Monsanto Co., the biggest seed company, will earn $1.9 billion, up from $1.61 billion, the mean of seven estimates shows. The St. Louis-based company rose 14 percent in New York trading this year.

Farming Accounts

Land prices in Iowa, the biggest corn- and soybean-growing state, averaged $5,600 an acre last year, three times the amount a decade ago, USDA data show.

While farming accounts for 0.9 percent of the U.S. economy, it has been among the fastest-growing contributors. The amount of value added by agriculture in the four years through 2010 rose 42 percent to $132.6 billion, compared with 8.6 percent growth for the entire economy, government data show.

U.S. exports surged as global economic growth boosted demand for crops, meat and dairy products, while weather damage disrupted supplies of everything from Russian wheat to Chinese pork.

Shipments reached a record $137.4 billion in the year that ended Sept. 30, with China the largest farm-goods buyer, USDA data show. While the government expects a drop to $132 billion in the current fiscal year, that still would be the second- largest ever and 21 percent higher than when President Barack Obama set a goal in 2010 to double all U.S. exports by 2015.

U.S. Unemployment

Unemployment in Midwest states was 7.9 percent in December, tied with the Northeast as the healthiest job region. North Dakota, Nebraska and South Dakota were the only states with unemployment under 5 percent. The national rate fell to 8.3 percent in January from 8.5 percent in December.